Protective garment



vJuly 9, 195.7 M. BEHRMAN f 2,798,489

PROTECTIVE GARMENT Filed oct. 2o; 1955 FIG.

FIG. 2

Pls; 2B

INVENTOR. MAYES BEHRMAN 2,798,489 l raorno'rrvn Gans/instr Mayes Behrman, Greensboro, N. C. Application (Betoher 2l), 1955, Serial No. 541,631 7` Creams. (ol. 12s-ass) This invention relates to protective-garments and more particularly to a garment to be worn by those persons who encounter difficulty in managing or controlling natural body eliminations.

There has been an ever increasing need in recent years for providing a protective garment which may be used in the care and treatment of those persons who have experienced through surgery, senility, or from other causes, some degree of incontinence or involuntariness in their excretory functions.` This physical condition is not unusual in many people of advanced age, invalids, and younger people who have undergone surgical operations. The care and treatment of many of these persons often takes place at home where cleaning and laundering facilities are usually inadequate.

Although several types of diaper-type or tubular legtype invalid garments are available and may be used for this need `they have proven inadequate due to insufficient capacity, discomfort to the patient, the difliculties encountered in changing a patient frequently, and the difculty experienced in effectively laundering the garment. Furthermore, the frequent launderings required for these garments requires a large supply to be ever present.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a protective garment for use in the care and treatment of persons who have become unable to control natural evacuations. k Another object of the present invention is to provide for use by incontinent individuals a protective sanitary garment having a geometrical contigui-ation which will permit the garment when worn to form a pouch having a plurality of absorbent gathers and folds for collecting and retaining body eliminations.

Yet a further object of the present invention is the provision of a garment for use by persons who are experiencing difculty with regulatory control of excretory functions by providing an outer protective uid resistant and retaining covering which is fastened to and covers a substantially coextensive intermediate absorbent lining to which intermediate lining a replaceable absorbent pad is removably fastened, the plurality of linings and protective covering forming a gathered pouch at the wearers crotch.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a reusable protective garment in which a lluid resistant covering material and an absorbent material are secured to one another at a pair of opposite ends to permit the garment to be turned inside out in order to facilitate laundering and drying as well as to provide more comfortable wearing qualities.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an inexpensive protective garment for incontinent persons which is designed to form a pouch having a number of gathers and folds for collecting and retaining body evacuations therein.

Other further objects and many of the attendant advantages of this protective garment for incontinent individuals will become readily apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accom- 2,798,489 Patented July 9, 1957 panying drawings in which like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views and wherein:

Fig. l is a perspective View of the present preferred form of the invention in the applied position;

Fig. 2 is a top plan View illustrating the present invention from the inside in an open extended position;

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along the plane of line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

`Referring now to the drawings which illustrate a preferred embodiment of this invention, there is broadly shown in Figs. 1 and 2 a protective garment for incontinent persons which consists primarily of a plurality of plies of absorbent materialthat may be covered on the outer surface by a protective uid resistant and retaining outer covering, and a plurality of supporting straps or tab members having releasable fastening means attached thereto for retaining the garment in position on the individual. The geometrical outline of the various plies of material when worn facilitates the formation of a pouch in which there are a large number of folds, creases, wrinkles, and channels to elfectively retain any body evacuations within the garment proper.

The garment 10 is provided with an outer covering ply formed from a thin flexible moisture retarding material 11 which is substantially rectangular in shape when eX- tended and has its longer marginal edges 12 and 13 slightly convexed or elliptical for the purpose to be described hereinafter. An intermediate ply or lining of an absorbent material lllthat is substantially coextensive with the outer covering 11 is placed contiguous to the outer covering and secured together at the shorter marginal sides 15 and 16 of both plies. A short length of each of the sides 1S and 16 may be turned back with the intermediate lining folded over the outer covering as by sewing to form the belt-receiving loops 17 and 18 at each of the shorter marginal sides of the garment. As clearly illustrated in Fig. 2, the material forming the belt-receiving loops at each end is gathered or bunched, as by pleating the material together on the belt members 19 and 20 that may be inserted and passed through the loops 17 and 1S on which the gathers are formed throughout the garment.

The gathers lor folds 21 may be retained in the shorter marginal edges of the garment by fastening the corners 22 of the outer covering and the intermediate ply to the belt members as by stitching the two together. However, when desirable to remove the belt members from the loops it has been found effective to provide for a releasable fastening means (not shown) in place of stitching the belt members to the corners 22. A plurality of releasable fasteners 23 are secured to the free ends of the belt members 419 and 20 to adjustably support the garment about the iperiphery of the individuals Waist, as illustrated in Fig.

1 in the assembled or applied position.

i Auxiliary strap elements 24, 25, 26, and 27 may be vsecured to the intermediate ply or lining 14 with suitable Vfastening snaps 27 or by stitching in spaced relation to the belt members. Strap element 24 is positioned on one marginal edge of the lining to cooperatively receive and fasten to the corresponding strap element 27 on the same marginal edge of the lining so as to provide a comfortable non-bulging it about the wearer. Similarly, strap element 25 will cooperate with its mating strap element 26 on the other longer marginal side of the intermediate ply. Obviously the strap elements and the belt members may be furnished with a plurality of spaced snap fastening means to provide for greater adjustability. In some applications these supporting members may be made from a resilient material such as woven elastic webbing.

A replaceable absorbent pad 28 is suitably positioned on the intermediate lining 14 and when desirable may be removably secured thereto by suitable fastening means such as pins or snap fasteners (not shown). The pad 28 may be located with respect to the remaining surface area of the intermediate lining 14 so as to cover the excretory organs as the garment is oriented to be worn whether the patient is in the reclining or the erect position. Utilization of Ypins or snap fastening means may be provided in some lapplications in order to prevent chang, however, iny most applications fastening means will not be necessary, since the inter-engagement of the various folds and gathers will provide suicient support for the replaceable absorbent pad 28 in the initially oriented position. Normally several folds or plies of absorbent material may be utilized depending upon the patients requirements. Pad 28 may be of the disposable cellulose or cotton-type or of the woven fabric-type such as normally found in a conventional diaper.

As illustrated in Fig. 1 the assembled garment when positioned on the individual has front and rear portions which taper toward the crotch to form a closely gathered pouch at approximately the center of the garment with the sides of the garment completely open. The convexed marginal edges 12 and 13 will normally extend over the intermediate lining 14 and will cling to the upper inner portions of the wearers thighs adjacent to the crotch.

In laundering, the pad lining 28 may be readily parted from the garment proper and treated separately. The construction of the garment, namely the outer and intermediate plies facilitates laundering and drying since they are joined only at the shorter marginal edges thus permitting the garment to be turned inside out for cleaning. During drying the plies may be parted sufficiently to permit the free circulation of air therebetween. Since the outer covering is preferably made of an impervious moisture resistant and retaining material, such as the conventional pliable vinyl film of plastic, drying of the outer presents no problem. The belt members and strap elements may be laundered together with the remainder of the garment or may be detached therefrom when they are removably fastened to the garment.

Obviously there are many modifications and variations that may be made in the. number Vof plies in this garment as well as the means for fastening the various components together in view of the above teachings without departing from the real spirit and purpose of this invention. lt is therefore to be understood within the scope of the appended claims many forms of this protective garment may be made and therefore modifications are contemplated.

What is claimed is:

1. A protective garment of the character described for completely covering the excretory organs of an individual comprising a substantially rectangular sheet of material having convex marginal longitudinal edges to form an outer garment ply, said material being pliable and of a fluid retaining and resistant nature, a rectangular fluid absorbent intermediate ply substantially coextensive with and secured at the shorter edges of the rectangular materials and forming a belt receiving loop at each edge therewith, a garment supporting belt member being received within the loops, said belt members having fastening meansrfor releasably supporting the garment about the individuals waist, auxiliary straps having releasable fastening means thereon and spaced from the belt members and fastened to the intermediate ply, and an absorbent liner removably retained adjacent to the intermediate ply for positioning to cover the excretory organs whereby upon applying the garment a pouch is formed at the individuals crotch having a plurality of gathers and folds for retaining any deposition within the pouch.

2. A protective garment of the character described for completely covering the excretory organs of an individual comprising a substantially rectangular sheet of material tovform an outer garmentply, said material being vpliable and of `a vfluid retaining and resistant nature, a rectangular Ifluid absorbent intermediate ply substantially coextensive with and secured to the outer ply at the shorter edges of the rectangular materials forming a belt receiving loop at each edge, a garment supporting belt member being received within each loop, auxiliary straps having releasable fastening means thereon spaced axially from the belt members and fastened to the intermediate ply, and an absorbent liner removably retained adjacent to the intermediate ply for positioning to cover the individuals excretory organs whereby upon applying the garment a pouch is formed at a patients crotch having a plurality of gathers and folds for retaining any deposition within the pouch.

3. In a protective garment of the character described having a plurality of absorbent plies and a lluid retaining and resistant covering material, said covering material being substantially rectangular in extended plan and having the longer of the marginal edges convexed, a first ply of absorbent material substantially coextensive with the outer covering, said first absorbent ply and said outer covering being secured together at the shorter of the edges of the rectangle, each of said shorter edges of the rectangular materials being folded back a short length to form belt receiving loops, a belt member receivable in each of said loops for cooperating engagement with each other to support the lgarment about the wearer, a pair of depending strap elements secured at one end in spaced relation to each belt receiving loop, the free ends of said strap elements having cooperatively engageable releasable fastening means thereon.

4. In a protective garment of the character described having a plurality of absorbent plies and a fluid retaining and resistant covering material, said covering material being substantially rectangular in extended plan, a rst ply of absorbent material substantially coextensive with the outer covering, said first ply and said outer covering being secured together at the shorter of the edges of the rectangle, each of said shorter edgesof the rectangular material being folded back on itself to form belt loops to receive a belt member in said loops, depending strap elements secured at one end in spaced relation to each belt receiving loop, the free ends of said elements having cooperatively releasable fastening means thereon, extending beyond the first ply, a second ply of absorbent material freely retained adjacent to the first ply for facilitating manipulation to cover the excretory organs whereby upon fitting the garment to an individual an absorbent tapered pouch is formed by the gathers Vand folds of the rst and second plies and the outer covering material.

5. A protective garment of the character described comprising a moisture resistant substantially rectangularshaped outer covering, a moisture absorbent intermediate ply, said intermediate ply being substantially coextensive with the outer covering, said outer covering and intermediate ply being 'secured along a pair of opposite sides to lie contiguous to each other and to form a front and a rear waist-engaging belt portion and a front portion and a rear portion and a crotch section, said plies being transversely separable to the belt portions, an absorbent liner contiguous with the intermediate ply, waist-engaging strap elements removably fastened to the Waist-engaging belt portions, whereby said absorbent liner may completely cover the excretory organs of the wearer and together with the outer cover and the intermediate ply forms a pouch at the wearers crotch with a large number of gathers and folds.

6. A protective garment of the character described comprising a resistant substantially rectangular-shaped outer ply, an absorbent intermediate ply, said intermediate ply being substantially coextensive with the outer ply, said outer and intermediate plies being secured along a pair of opposite sides to lie contiguous to each other and to form waist-engaging belt portions and a front portion and rear portion and a crotch section, said plies being transversely separable to the belt portions, an absorbent liner contiguous with the intermediate ply, a waist-engaging strap element retained by the Waist-en gaging belt portions of the outer and intermediate plies whereby said liner may completely cover the excretory organs of an individual and the outer ply and the intermediate ply form a pouch with the liner therein at the Wearers crotch with a large number of gathers to increase the absorption properties of the garment.

7. A protective garment of the character described `comprising a moisture resistant substantially rectangularA shaped outer ply having convexed longer marginal edges, an absorbent intermediate ply, said intermediate ply being substantially coeXtensive with the outer ply, said outer and intermediate plies being secured along a pair of opposite sides to lie contiguous to each other and to form a front and a rear Waist-engaging belt portion and a front portion and a rear portion and a crotch section,

said plies being transversely separable to the belt portions, Waist-engaging strap elements fastened to the waist-engaging belt portions, pairs of depending strap elements secured in spaced relation to the belt portions to cooperatively engage one another whereby upon tting the garment to an individual a pouch is formed at the individuals crotch and the convexed marginal edges extended beyond the intermediate ply.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,680,178 Shafer Aug. 7, 1928 2,730,788 Piatt Ian. 17, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,089,021 France sept. 22, 1954 

